Cambodia First To Join Geneva Act On Geographical Indications. But Where Are The Europeans? 16/03/2018 by William New, Intellectual Property Watch Leave a Comment Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)Cambodia has become the first country to join a 2015 agreement at the World Intellectual Property Organization aimed at strengthening protection of geographical indications (GIs). The Asian nation has several GIs it is seeking to protect, such as the Kampot pepper. But it might seem surprising that almost three years later, the group of European countries that fought so hard to conclude the treaty back in 2015 still have not acceded to it. Director General Francis Gurry receives Cambodia’s instrument of accession to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement from H. E. Mr. Pan Sorasak, Minister for Commerce. (Photo: WIPO/Berrod) According to a WIPO press officer: “Cambodia is the first State to accede, or the first Contracting Party, to the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications (2015). The Geneva Act will enter into force when five eligible parties referred to Article 28 of the Act have deposited their instruments of ratification or accession. Four more accessions or ratifications are therefore required for the Geneva Act’s entry into force.” She added: “If any of the 28 States that are currently Contracting Parties to the Lisbon Agreement (i.e. the 1967 Act or the 1958 Act) want to become a Party to the Geneva Act, they will have to deposit their instrument of accession or ratification, as Cambodia did last Friday [9 March].” Lisbon Agreement members are from all over the world, but about half of the 28 members are from Europe, and a couple of European countries are far and away the biggest beneficiaries (IPW, WIPO, 16 May 2015), and were among the most outspoken in favour during the Geneva Act negotiations. The strongest European proponents did sign the Geneva Act immediately, see the list here. An official from the European Union delegation in Geneva did not respond to a question about the accession issue by press time. Reprinted from the WIPO press release: “The Geneva Act will enter into force three months after five eligible parties have deposited their instruments of ratification or accession. The Geneva Act is designed to help ensure that producers of quality products linked to origin are able protect the distinctive designations of their products in multiple jurisdictions, either as appellations of origin or geographical indications, through a single application with WIPO and the payment of one set of fees. The Lisbon System provides protection for names that identify the geographic origin of products such as coffee, tea, fruits, wine, pottery, glass and cloth. Examples of appellations of origin and geographical indications include Kampot Pepper and Kampong Speu Palm Sugar from Cambodia, as well as Scotch whisky, Darjeeling tea, Café de Colombia, Gouda Holland, Argan Oil, Swiss watches and Tequila.” Image Credits: WIPO Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) Related William New may be reached at wnew@ip-watch.ch."Cambodia First To Join Geneva Act On Geographical Indications. But Where Are The Europeans?" by Intellectual Property Watch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.